Answer and Comprehension - Daniel 12:9-13

The Lord’s reply to Daniel’s question begins as a
sharp rebuke; then He decides to bestow additional
information to help Daniel comprehend the outcome.

Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed
up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be
purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will
continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand,
but those who are wise will understand.

The Scriptures reveal all that we are to know about the
future. The Word of God is of the Holy Spirit and it is
not comprehended by the unsaved. In fact, “the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1
Corinthians 1:18). Again, Proverbs 9:10 is a key that
unlocks the Bible:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Daniel said, “I heard, but I did not understand.” His
problem does not reside in the fear of the LORD; it is
God’s limitation on what He will allow to be understood at
this particular time in history.

The Lord encourages Daniel by telling him that the
purpose of the time of distress is to purify many and to
make them spotless and refined. The greatest harvest of
souls will occur during this seven-year period (Revelation
7:9-17). There will be no middle road for the atheists and
agnostics in this period. One will receive the mark of
the beast and worship his image or turn to Christ and face
the possibility of being martyred.

The final prediction given to Daniel foretells the
chronology of the time of distress.

From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and
the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there
will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and
reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

The date on which the Antichrist confirms the covenant
marks the beginning of the Tribulation Period and the
middle of the Tribulation will be marked by the
abomination that causes desolation. Those living on earth
at that time, with Bible in hand, will need no fancy
calculation to figure out the time of Christ’s second
coming.

The “sixty-nine sevens” reveals the exact date for
Christ’s presentation of Himself as Israel’s King and
Passover Lamb. The exact date of His second coming as KING
OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS is recorded here. This time,
the wise should not miss it!

The following chart shows the specific periods, which
will be measurable in the end times.

The day that “the abomination that causes desolation”
is set up, the entire world will be commanded to worship
the image. Israel will flee into the desert to a place
prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of
for 1,260 days. At this point, everyone can begin counting
the years, months, and days to the Second Advent of
Christ.

Christ will return to earth on day 1,260. What will
happen on days 1,290 and 1,335? Scripture does not spell
it out. An educated guess is that after Christ returns, it
will take 30 days to gather the survivors (the nations) to
Jerusalem, and another 45 days for the separation of the
sheep and goats.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep
on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will
say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by
my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for
you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:32-34).

Accordingly, day 1,335 commences the Millennial Kingdom
and the blessed ones (the sheep) enter it on this day.
Furthermore, these extra days allow for the purification
of the Temple and the assembling of God’s people for its
dedication (cf. Ezekiel 43:1-12; 45:18-20). Typical
prophecy of Daniel 8:14 requires that the Temple be
reconsecrated as it had been on December 25, 165 B.C. It
is noteworthy that Hezekiah postponed Passover for one
month (thirty days) in order to allow time for enough
priests to consecrate themselves and for the people to
assemble at the Temple (2 Chronicles 30:2-4).

The final part of this vision began “many will go here
and there to increase knowledge.” It will be impossible to
miss the beginning date of the last three and one-half
years of the Tribulation according to Jesus.

So when you see standing in the holy place “the
abomination that causes desolation”, spoken of through the
prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those
who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15-16).

When the image of the beast is erected, the wise will
have increased in knowledge, thereby, being able to count
down the arrival of Christ from that day.

If this is so, what are we to make of passages like
“therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or
the hour” (Matthew 25:13)? In short, Scripture presents a
known day and an unknown day. Since the Bible never
contradicts itself, there must be two days. Christ comes,
not once, but twice—once in the air for His Church and
once to the earth as the Rock, who smashes the nations in
order to establish the everlasting kingdom and His
thousand-year reign.

True to the pattern of Scripture, the Lord’s parting
words to Daniel promise comfort and hope.

As for you, go your way till the end. You will
rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to
receive your allotted inheritance.

God’s faithful servant is numbered with the wise! What
words of assurance: Go, rest, rise! “Go your way to the
end” speaks of the prophet’s spirit and soul going to
Sheol, the place of the departed dead. Jesus described
this place as Abraham’s side (Luke 16:22) and called it
Paradise (Luke 23:43). Daniel’s body would return to dust
and rest in the ground until the end. Afterward his body
would be resurrected and he would stand before His Lord
and receive his allotted inheritance.

Interestingly, Daniel was told that he was highly
esteemed three times (Daniel 9:25; 10:4, 19). He was a
prime minister in the empires of Babylon and Medo-Persia.
His allotted inheritance just might be as prime minister
of a third kingdom—Christ’s.

Daniel is on the winning side of the great conflict!
Nothing can separate him from his allotted inheritance in
the kingdom of God. It is based on the promise of Christ!
It is written in the Book of Truth! It is not hard to
imagine Daniel going away from this vision giving thanks
to the Most High God. Daniel is not unique; all born-again
believers have this hope and praise of gratitude in their
hearts.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor
any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

With the Apostle Paul, we can give thanks to the
Father, who has qualified believers to share in the
inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light
(Colossians 1:12). As for you, is this your hope?